Some takes on Trump I bet you haven't seen

We find smart writers, steal their ideas and pretend they are ours

In “The War of the Worlds” nothing can stop the space invaders.

In the H.G. Wells classic they land on earth and attack. Their heat ray destroys everything, including the nation’s military. Mankind’s most sophisticated weapons are obliterated. There seems to be no hope.

And then the space aliens die. They’d never considered they wouldn’t have immunity to earth’s germs. They were defeated by their own vulnerabilities.

Wells, an English writer, probably never went to Georgia. But his story played out there in the primary runoff election for two senate seats.

Donald Trump went down there with two Republican candidates holding leads and fulminated and hissy-fitted his way to a stunning Democratic upset victory. It not only was a blow to Trump’s party in Georgia, it delivered the senate to Democrats.

Trump was defeated by his own vulnerabilities.

I’m not going to rehash that. There are much smarter and more informed takes on this than you will find here. Although frankly, a lot of it is repetitive. Let’s just say if the words “assault on democracy” was the trigger for a drinking game, we’d be out of bourbon.

But I thought a column in the Washington Post captured a fresh angle. It is by David Von Drehle, and since I figure you probably aren’t going to click on the link, I am going to try to steal some of his ideas and pretend they were mine.

Von Drehle is particularly interested in young Sen. Josh Hawley, who led the rogue charge to challenge the results of the election. The assumption is that Hawley, at 41 the youngest member of the senate, was angling for Trump’s favor and for the affection of the Trump base of voters. He could be the new Trump

But as Von Drehle says, if the events in Georgia, from Trump’s all-about-me rally, to his one-hour, crime boss call to election officials to his relentless and delusional obsession with election conspiracies, there is no “Trumpism” as a philosophy. There is only the Trump Show.

And now Hawley, and over-eager Ted Cruz and senators who are protesting the election, are starting to look like Wile E. Coyote. They’ve run off the cliff and things seemed to be going fine until they looked down and saw there was no support. It couldn’t have been easy for them to listen to Sen. Mitch McConnell lecture them for irresponsibility Wednesday before Congress and a national television audience.

And Wednesday afternoon, when a Trump mob stormed the capitol, all those conservatives who were so distressed at the radical violence in Portland, had to look at that and say, “This is what I’m supporting?”

In a nice turn of phrase the column says, “It is unclear whether (Hawley) will pay a cost for the error, but he certainly has nothing to gain from it.”

But there’s more. Von Drehle’s argument is that there is a reason Trump has burned through so many supporters and boosters. It is his brand. When he attacks loyal Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, although he previously endorsed him, it is another stop on a long line of would-be allies that Trump has burned.

And then you have a choice. You can leave, humiliated. Or you can pretend it never happened and cozy back up to Trump. The suggestion is that Hawley should look to Cruz to see the future. Trump insulted Cruz’s wife, defamed his father and called him a liar. Cruz’s response? Von Drehle says it is, “Please sir may I have another?” Is that who you want to be?

There’s even the suggestion that Trump’s famous base enjoys the spectacle. And it is true, a large part of Trump’s rally schtick is mocking others, especially those who have dared to cross him. Ask the wreckage that was Jeff Sessions.

But sooner or later, if you’re Trump, you burn so many bridges that you stand isolated and alone, talking about missing machine parts and ballots in a riverbank.

One more thing, from the department of a fresh takes. Deadspin writer Jeff Pearlman wrote a fascinating breakdown of Trump’s time as an owner of a USFL professional football team.

It is uncanny. Trump tried to strong arm the NFL into giving him a franchise. (And was rebuffed.) He signed Doug Flutie to the highest contract in pro football history, then announced that the other USFL owners would pay for it. (like Mexico and the wall.) They didn’t.

And finally, when he couldn’t get his way, he sued the NFL for anti-trust violations, with the idea that the threat of a messy lawsuit would force the NFL to give him a franchise.

Instead, they went to court. The trial lasted weeks. Trump took over the stage playing to the jury with boasts and exaggerations.

And he won. The jury awarded him three dollars.

The jury said his string of lies and mistruths made it impossible for them to believe any of the USFL’s charges.

As a result, the league blew up and disappeared. Trump went on to the next thing.

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For whatever reason, locations become sports mecca’s. And then they aren’t

For my Santa Rosa Press Democrat column I wrote about how large population centers sometimes catch a vibe and become the home of multiple sports champions.

We saw it in New York (Yankees, Jets, Giants), Los Angeles (Dodgers, Lakers Rams) and Chicago (Bulls, Bears and Cubs). And we had it in the Bay Area too. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole totaled the numbers in a story.

“29 playoff appearances over four sports ... 10 trips to the ultimate game. Six championships.”

But now it is starting to look like that brief period has come to a close. The Warriors were off to a slow start, the 49ers had an injury-riddled, disappointing season and the Giants have gone from “perennial contender” to “hopeful upstart.”

It looks like a new world in Bay Area sports.

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49ers season finally ends. Whew. What did we learn?

For the Santa Rosa PD 49ers Insider I gave some thought to how this miserable season will impact the future.

Among other things, we discuss the admirable unflappability of Kyle Shanahan, the reaffirmation that the quarterback is the most important player on the team and the simple math that shows the importance of a pass rusher.

We even made a little fun of us media types.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Compliments and suggestions welcomed. Criticism not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius